Grammys drop Jackson

Janet Jackson during the flash that sparked outrage in the USA.
Picture: Reuters

Pop singer Janet Jackson, embroiled in controversy over the baring of her right breast on prime time television, will not appear as a presenter in next Sunday's annual Grammy music awards ceremony.

"I can confirm she is not attending. I won't give any more details," Jackson publicist Steven Huvane said today.

The celebrity gossip TV show Extra said today Jackson was to have presented a Grammy to soul and rhythm and blues king Luther Vandross, who is recuperating from a stroke suffered last April.

Extra said rhythm and blues star Patti LaBelle would stand in for Jackson, presenting the award to Vandross in absentia.

The Grammy awards are to be broadcast by CBS Television, the same network that ran last Sunday's Super Bowl, including the half-time show that featured Jackson and teen pop idol Justin Timberlake.

Timberlake tore off Jackson's bodice to reveal the singer's right breast last Sunday, saying later he had been shocked to see the breast, expecting it to be covered by a bra.

"It was, 'Oh my God, oh my God'. I was completely embarrassed. I don't feel like I need publicity like that and I wouldn't want to be involved in a stunt, especially not a stunt of this magnitude," he said.

The 23-year-old former N'Sync singer said the original plan had been for him to pull on the bodice and expose a red lace bra, not her naked breast, covered only by an ornate nipple-cap.

Jackson apologised for the incident, taking full responsibility and absolving CBS, half-time producer MTV and the National Football League of blame, saying she pulled the stunt on the spur of the moment and warned no one.

Until Huvane's confirmation, there had been no official announcement about axing the singer from the Grammys, the highlight of the US pop year.

The Washington Post earlier quoted one source close to the Grammy show as saying "CBS and the Recording Academy are waiting for her to graciously bow out. If she does not soon, they will uninvite her."

Timberlake, nominated for five Grammys, is still scheduled to appear Sunday, although he may not sing as first planned, according to media reports.

In addition to the 100 million Americans glued to their television sets when Jackson's breast was exposed, countless others made the scandal the most searched item on the internet - surpassing even the September 11 2001 attacks, according to search engine Terra Lycos.

Despite her apology, Jackson remains the object of widespread outrage, with the watchdog Federal Communications Commission launching an investigation into whether indecency regulations were breached.

As a result of the incident, CBS said it would put a time delay on the live broadcast of the Grammys to prevent further embarrassment, and rival ABC television said it would do likewise on its broadcast of the Oscars ceremony on February 29.

In addition, the National Football League has cancelled a performance by N'Sync singer JC Chasez, a former bandmate of Timberlake, at the Pro Bowl game this weekend.

A high school principal in Laguna Beach, California decided to cancel the appearance of some of the school's students on an MTV reality show.

But a decision by NBC to cut a shot of an exposed breast of an 80-year-old woman receiving emergency care during its award winning series ER has outraged the makers.

ER executive producer John Wells accused NBC of censorship.

"While the unexpected exposure of Ms Jackson's breast during the Super Bowl Half-Time Show was inappropriate and deplorable on a broadcast intended for viewers of all ages, ER's incidental exposure of an elderly woman's breast in the context of a medical trauma is not comparable," he said.